270133 Irrationality in thought and action (S) (SoSe 2016)

Human thought and action in a social context often appears to be irrational. We will examine and discuss theoretical explanations and empirical studies regarding a host of phenomena that may be subsumed under the heading of "irrationality," among them:
• judgmental bias as a result of heuristic thinking
• magical thinking
• superstition
• intuition and feeling-based judgment
• treating animals and inanimate objects as if they were human (anthropomorphization)
etc.
Some of the questions we will address: Are there underlying principles that apply to all of these phenomena? How are they distinct? May what appears irrational actually have adaptive benefits?

Requirements for participation, required level

Students who wish to participate are kindly requested to register for the course via e-mail to fatma.akkaya-willis@uni-bielefeld.de, or by calling the social psychology office at 0521 1064436 (Mrs. Akkaya-Willis). When registering, please report your e-mail address. Also, please sign up here in the eKVV.

This seminar will be held in English. This means that *all* materials, communications, and correspondence will be in English. Participating students should thus be comfortable with reading English literature, completing English-language homework assignments, and contributing actively to discussions in English each week.

The seminar forms part of MSc module 27-M-G (G.2 or G.3) and should be taken in either the second or third semester.

Bibliography

The list below is selective – additional literature will be compiled in the seminar.
Ariely, D. (2012). Predictably irrational: The hidden forces that shape our decisions (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
Ariely, D. (2012). The upside of irrationality: The unexpected benefits of defying logic at work and at home. New York: HarperCollins.
Epstein, S., Pacini, R., Denes-Raj, V., & Heier, H. (1996). Individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 390–405.
Fogg, B. J., & Nass, C. (1997). Silicon sycophants: The effects of computers that flatter. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 46, 551–561.
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (Eds.). (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Risen, J. L., & Gilovich, T. (2008). Why people are reluctant to tempt fate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 293–307. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.2.293
Rozin, P., Millman, L., & Nemeroff, C. (1986). Operation of the laws of sympathetic magic in disgust and other domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 703-712.
Shafir, E., & Tversky, A. (1992). Thinking through uncertainty: Nonconsequential reasoning and choice. Cognitive Psychology, 24, 449-474.
Tversky, A., & Shafir, E. (1992). The disjunction effect in choice under uncertainty. Psychological Science, 3, 305-309